Meet author Joseph Valentinetti.....by Joyce oroz

Mr. Valentinetti, please tell us how and why you embarked on a writing career?

I started writing early but without consistency. But I think the `Why’ part of your question is more relevant to me. I’m a reticent person-the quiet type. When people are being kind they say, Still waters run deep. What have you been up to? or, what are you thinking about? are two questions that freeze me up. I’m sure there’s a description of my disorder in the DSM outlining its characteristics, and, I’m just as sure there’s a description in there for each of us. So I write to say what I feel, and, to say what I am unable to say face to face. I’m there in my fiction somewhere, not quite as disguised as in real life but probably not that open either.By the way, when people are not being kind they say, I bore them to death. Though there is no documented case of someone dying from being in my company.

Mr. Valentinetti, what genre do you prefer to write?

I seem to have ended up in the mystery field. I like my characters to let their weaknesses get them into places they have never been before, and, from where they have to find the strength to get themselves out.

Tyler Palewhite is a salesman who dreams of being a novelist. In fact he’s written a P.I. novel. He’s not having much luck getting it published until he hits on the idea of pretending to be a Private Investigator to impress potential publishers. He makes letterhead, prints business cards and adds it to his resume. As people he knows find out they take it seriously and begin to ask for his help. He tries his hand at a couple of simple things and has some unexpected success. As far is writing is concerned his pretense has the desired effect: It works. He gets a publisher and things are going as according to plan.Just when he thinks, What Could Possibly Go Wrong? things begin to spiral out of control and he finds himself embroiled in kidnapping and murder. What he does to try and fix things keeps making matters worse.

How many books have you written and which one was the most satisfying towrite?

I have five novels. Each had rewards and punishments unique to itself. I am proud of each of them.

Please tell us about how you write your novels--your methodology.

I start with an idea. I don’t do an outline unless you consider a first draft an outline. I do try to stay true to the original idea. What I mean is, when I get an idea that excites my imagination I stick to it. I know that as I think about it again and again it will start to sound dull and stupid. New modifications will occur to me and new ideas always sound better than old ideas, if for no other reason, their freshness alone will make them appear better. If I let the `new’ take over I’d never get anything done.

Do you enjoy writing?

I can’t top what Woody Allen said: I like everything but the paperwork.I do like it. I enjoy the solitude. I enjoy the times when the writing takes over and I am nothing more than a conduit. When the thoughts shake free of my grip and I am carried along with them as though we are, my thoughts and I, travelling side by side, driven. I can’t say what that force is, creativity maybe? but it is something that frees me. I enjoy that.Thanks for interviewing me Joyce.